Tag: Gen Padalecki

All of us here at Fangasm are especially proud to be pitching in with a charity auction to help Jared and Gen Padalecki raise money through #RunPadsRun for Dream Big, an organization that provides girls from low income households with the equipment and program fees that are necessary to participate in sports and physical activities. Many young women want to participate, but their economic situations prevent it. Uniforms and equipment are expensive, and so are the soccer and volleyball camps, dance classes, sports clinics and gymnastics classes that allow young women to excel in their sport of choice.

Why is this so important that the Padaleckis are running the Boston Marathon to raise money for the cause? With my psychologist hat on, I decided to find out – and it turns out the research is pretty compelling.

Multiple large-scale studies over the past decade have found a gender gap in youth sports, with girls from urban and low income environments the most impacted. Historically, sports have been an area in which women’s participation is sometimes limited, including access for racial minorities, GLBT+ persons, and women and girls. Girls have faced resistance to their participation, and women’s sports have often been devalued.

Supernatural fans have long made pilgrimages to Vancouver, where the show is filmed – but there’s another city that’s also a sort of Mecca for the SPNFamily. That city is Austin, Texas, where Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles make their home. Padalecki owns the San Jac Saloon in the heart of the city and Ackles and family own the Family Business Beer Company, a brewery in nearby Dripping Springs. That gives fans two destinations in which to congregate – and this past weekend, they had a good reason to brave the Texas summer heat.

Longtime Supernatural fans Sandra and Tonia organized Paws 4 AKF (@Paws4AKF), a charity fundraiser to benefit Austin Pets Alive (which Jared and Jensen have supported) and the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (the other charity selected by Jared Padalecki for this fundraiser). The event was held on June 23 at the San Jac Saloon, which attracted Supernatural fans from all over the country to Austin. About 50 fans gathered in ‘Jack’s Place,’ as the upstairs room of the bar is known, to do some good in the world and to enjoy each other’s company. There was a silent auction with plenty of donated items as well as games, a photo op area with props, a Twister board, and a very popular karaoke mic. I brought along copies of Family Don’t End With Blood to donate, and my friend and fellow fangirl and photographer extraordinaire Kim Prior came with me – so now the event had a photographer too! And this article has some pretty pretty pictures.

The Winchesters and Cas are most definitely Superheroes onscreen – those characters have inspired countless Supernatural fans to keep on fighting even against odds that sometimes seem insurmountable. But in the real world, it’s the actors who bring those characters to life who are the real world superheroes – through the Represent tee shirt campaigns, the messages that You Are Not Alone and Always Keep Fighting, the Crisis Support Network, and Random Acts global change initiatives. One of the most exciting new projects is a partnership between Random Acts and the Pop Culture Hero Coalition to combat bullying. Supernatural’s Genevieve Padalecki is one of the contributors to the partnership, and joined some other crusaders for change on a Comic Con panel to talk about their important work.

The Superheroes In Real Life panel takes the prize for being my most inspiring hour of Comic Con this year – and that’s saying a lot considering all the incredible panels! Of course Comic Con is all about the fantastical and the imaginative and the fictional and how all of those things are healthy and positive and beneficial – something for us to celebrate! But Comic Con has a history of also hosting panels that are anchored in real life challenges and problems, and bringing to light social change that’s needed. This year was no exception, and I attended several panels that inspired everyone in attendance to be a part of that change.